Dan covered Utah Jazz basketball for more than 10 years, including as a radio analyst for the team’s Spanish-language broadcasts from 2010 to 2014. He now lives and works in New York City, but contributes regularly to Salt City Hoops, FanRag and BBALLBreakdown.

Gobert’s dominating lately, and not just on D. (Melissa Majchrzak via utahjazz.com)

While the Jazz keep rolling through their March schedule, we have a lot of work to do to roll through all the storylines, news and subplots.

Every week here at Salt City Hoops we recap the previous seven days in Jazz land by looking at the prominent stories, stats, performances and plays that defined the last 168 hours. It’s our Salt City Seven feature, and it’s chock full of fun stuff this week. So let’s get to it.

A quick(ish) exploration of a prominent theme from the week or the current state of Utah Jazz basketball.

The Jazz just keep extending their historic turnaround. Fifty-two days ago, they woke up nine games under .500 and with fast-waning playoff odds. Since then, they’re 20-2 and have climbed to the Western Conference’s seventh seed.

After 52 incredulous days of poring over the possible explanations for how a .400 team suddenly becomes an unstoppable buzzsaw, it’s clear that there are many heroes. A number of positive trends have helped Utah notch more wins in their past 22 games than they did in the previous 47: Ricky Rubio’s improved play, Donovan Mitchell’s growing poise, Joe Ingles’ hot shooting. They have adjusted some X-and-O nuances to capitalize on player strengths. They made personnel moves to replace the minutes of low-efficiency volume scorers with guys who more often than not make the right basketball play and don’t care who gets the shot. They’ve gotten solid play from Derrick Favors, and more consistency from their bench.

Oh, and they have also unleashed a reinvigorated, healthy, dominant Rudy Gobert.

It’s not that Gobert doesn’t get credit for the Jazz’s improvement. It’s just that too often the praise for the Stifle Tower focuses solely on his game-changing, smothering, demoralizing defense. That’s well-deserved. But the 7-foot-2 French center is, more than ever, dominating on both ends.

Gobert is averaging 15.6 points on 9 field goal attempts per game and 71 percent from the line since that January 24 awakening. All of those figures would be career highs over the course of a season for Gobert, who started to come into his own last season as an elite roll man, but was still very much a secondary threat. Now, you feel Gobert’s presence on offense just as much as on defense. Over this 22-game stretch, the Jazz offense produces 111.2 points per 100 possessions, just a few tenths of a point behind Rubio for best on the team over that stretch.

This might be the most dominant Gobert has played on the offensive end for such a long stretch in his career. After a rough start to the year, he has worked his way up to the 87th percentile for pick-and-roll finishing with 1.31 points per possession he closes on said rim dives. The 9’7″ standing reach and Quin Snyder’s clever playbook certainly help, but part of the improvement here is that Rudy is finding more ways to finish those plays. He’s no longer just interested in dunking everything — oh, don’t get me wrong, he’ll destroy the rim if given the chance, but his menu of options for close finishes has never benefited from so much footwork and finesse. Reverses, euro-steps, even drives from the elbow — Gobert’s offensive game is getting better.

The free throws are a big deal, too. His attempts are about flat, but the jump to 71% on freebies is a huge deal. Any recipe one could have concocted before the season to get Gobert’s scoring average to jump by a couple of points would have by necessity included an improve free-throw shot, and Gobert has obliged.

That’s why his scoring is starting to look like that of a real offensive threat. His 15.6 points in the last 22 games feels quite sustainable. During the most recent 8-game win streak, he’s averaging 19.1. Holy smokes. Imagine if that Gobert sticks around.

But it’s not just his own scoring that gets better; since January 24, the Jazz are shooting 39 percent from three when Gobert is on the floor and 40 percent when Rubio plays. That’s remarkable since neither are great outside shooters individually. That others around those two get so much better shooting from deep despite a Rudy-Ricky pairing’s obvious spacing deficiencies is a testament to the gravity of the Gobert roll, the impact of his screening, and the ability of Rubio’s tenacity to bend defenses by attacking.

It’s almost Jazz folklore by now that the club dealt to get Gobert in the 2013 draft because they were impressed by his will to get better. That desire is on display once again this year, and the big man is evolving into a reliable scorer and an offensive catalyst. He is, both offensively and defensively, carrying his team into the playoffs.

Words from a Jazz player or coach about a relevant or timely topic.

“The expectation is that he competes, does the things that he knows he needs to do to help the team win… One of the things that Dante has is the ability to play multiple positions. So I don’t want him to play like Raul (Neto), I don’t want him to play like Ricky, I don’t want him to play like Donovan, I don’t want him to play like Joe. I just want him to be Dante..”

As if the week hadn’t been exciting enough in the world of all things Jazz, the basketball gods served up something we hadn’t seen since early October: a healthy Exum.

“I’m just excited to finally get out there tonight and join the guys in the successful season so far that they’ve been having,” Exum said prior to his long-awaited 2017-18 premier. “So hopefully I can join in and fit right in.”

So far, so good. Exum had 10 points in his season debut, with a mix of driving layups and free throws earned through aggressiveness. It was an auspicious first step, and the Jazz hope that it’s just a start.

I wrote elsewhere about Exum’s progress as a player and what his return could mean to the Jazz in the immediate term, so I won’t rehash that here. The bottom line is the most important aspect of Exum’s return is that it gives the 22-year-old a chance to continue progressing towards being an NBA difference-maker. As Snyder pointed out in the hours leading up to his point guard’s debut, that process was going well before the latest injury, a shoulder separation that cost Exum 68 games.

“As much as anything, I think he was getting more and comfortable. More at ease,” the coach explained. “When that happens, the game slows down. He was attacking the rim, making good decisions, shooting the ball more confidently. All those things take time to find, and you’re going to have ups and downs over the course of the year even if you’re healthy.”

Keeping track of Utah’s playoff chances

Utah is finally starting to move from the right to left on our handy playoff race graphic, but they’re not quite out of the woods yet. Seeds 4 through 10 are still separated by just two games in the loss column. Any team that drops an unexpected couple of games could quickly find itself out in the cold.

With less than 4 weeks to go, the Western Conference 3-10 race remains a gauntlet.

The Jazz no longer have the easiest schedule, and once they get three lottery teams out of the way, it will jump to being one of those most difficult ones over the final 10-game stretch. Luckily, the Clippers and Nuggets have brutal closing slates as well, which bodes well for Utah’s chances at keeping the two current non-playoff teams on their back.

Stats and figures that help tell prominent stories from the week.

14+

The Jazz have won eight overall, but their last six wins have come by margins of at least 14 points. That’s the longest streak in franchise history of wins by 14 or more, besting the five straight that the ’88-89 and ’06-07 Jazz each enjoyed. Only 11 teams in NBA history have matched Utah’s current streak of six, and three of those lopsided streaks came this year: the Warriors and Rockets also have done it this season.

The NBA record for such a streak is eight straight, by the 2003-04 Pistons. Utah could match that if they score lopsided home victories against the lottery-bound Sacramento and Atlanta.

6

The Jazz have now beat the Pelicans in the last six consecutive games that featured both Gobert and Anthony Davis. Utah took the season series from New Orleans with their Sunday win, which could be relevant since the teams are now just one loss apart. (For the record, Gobert has also won his last four head-to-head meetings with Detroit’s Andre Drummond.)

A quick dissection of an awesome bit of Jazz offense from the week.

It just seemed right to feature something from Exum’s first game back. Most of his scoring plays were pretty straightforward from an X-and-O standpoint, so here instead is the Australian guard’s first assist of the 2017-18 season.

The play starts with Exum faking a baseline cut and then setting a backscreen for Ingles before coming back out to receive the ball on a screen-handoff. The Jazz initiate this way a lot. Exum’s defender has to be a little preoccupied with showing on the Exum backscreen, lest Jingles get a wide open layup. So one of two things will happen: either the defender will already be behind heading into the Crowder screen, or the Jazz will get a favorable switch, as in this case. We’ll call that part of the action a “guard backscreen to DHO.”

From there it gets better, thanks to great timing. Watch Exum and Jingles in particular; the latter makes his cut behind Favors’ flare screen exactly as Exum begins to go right to left over the Crowder DHO. It’s great to see them nail that timing on one of their first possessions together in five months. This results in the pair connecting seamlessly and Ingles getting a wide open three, which for him lately is like dropping a basketball into the Great Salt Lake.

Doling out credit for Jazz wins, one imaginary Spalding at a time.

Jazz 95, Grizzlies 78: Jae Crowder

It wasn’t just that he finally had a game where the shots dropped. It wasn’t just the season-high 22 points of the career-high six 3-pointers. The Jazz just looked really good when Crowder was in the game. Virtually all of their most dominant lineups that evening had Crowder at the 4. He was good defensively, too, contesting a ton of shots and moving on a string. Rubio (15-10-5), Ingles (16, 4 triples) and Gobert (only 4 points but dominant defensively) were all huge, too.

Jazz 116, Pelicans 99: Donovan Mitchell

To say that Rubio just “kept it close” for Mitchell would be a huge understatement. The Spaniard (30, 10 & 7) was arguably the MVP of the game as a whole, and actually did more fourth-quarter damage than the rookie. But there’s just no way to skip past what Mitchell did in that game, turning it on to the tune of 18 points in just over three minutes. And that was the stretch that quite literally won Utah the game: his personal 18-6 run brought Utah from five down to a seven-point lead. All told, Utah scored a remarkable 53 points over the game’s final 15 minutes and change; Donovan scored 25 of those, while Ricky & Rudy each added nine. In a must-win game. With playoff implications. On the road. Against an MVP candidate. Simply amazing stuff from Mitchell & the gang.

Jazz 110, Pistons 79: Rudy Gobert

Another dominant performance by Utah’s dominant big man. Gobert scored 22 on 9-for-12 shooting, and added 12 boards and a pair of blocks. He significantly outplayed All-Star Drummond, and he held Detroit to 1-of-4 around the rim. Ingles’ 17-7-7 line merits mention, as does the bench play of both Crowder and Jonas Jerebko. The former had another nice shooting night on the way to 14 points, and Jerebko added 16 to go with eight boards.

Jazz 116, Suns 88: Joe Ingles

So many candidates. Some of you suggested we celebrate Exum’s return and his 10-point outing by giving it to him. Crowder was big again. Rubio had 11 assists and absorbed a literal beating from two frustrated Suns who pushed him to the hardwood in a second-half scrum. Gobert (21 & 13) and Mitchell (23-6-4) wreaked their usual havoc. But ultimately the Ingles voters swayed me. Not only did he can four triples and post his second straight 17-point night, but he was the first to step in on Rubio’s behalf when the Suns threw their classless, dangerous tantrum. He was also really freaking good overall. His 73.1 defensive rating was the best of the rotation guys.

But really, in a game like that, throw a dart at a wall and just pick a guy.

The son of Jazz great John Stockton, who has appeared in three NBA games since graduating from Gonzaga in 2014, just joined the franchise where his dad became a legend.

And if that’s not fun enough, here’s an awesome detail that SCH’s David Smith caught: David Stockton was born the summer before the Jazz signed Corey Crowder, whose son Jae had been born a year earlier. That’s right: Jae and Davis were “Jazz babies together” and now will be teammates for at least the next 10 days.

No need to welcome Stockton to the Jazz family; he’s been a part of it all along.

Author information

Dan Clayton

Dan covered Utah Jazz basketball for more than 10 years, including as a radio analyst for the team’s Spanish-language broadcasts from 2010 to 2014. He now lives and works in New York City, but contributes regularly to Salt City Hoops, FanRag and BBALLBreakdown.

Dan covered Utah Jazz basketball for more than 10 years, including as a radio analyst for the team’s Spanish-language broadcasts from 2010 to 2014. He now lives and works in New York City, but contributes regularly to Salt City Hoops, FanRag and BBALLBreakdown.

The Utah Jazz added another win to their record and another player to their rotation on Thursday night.

Facing the rudderless and lottery-bound Phoenix Suns as part of a 4-game home stand, the Jazz passed, drove and bombed their way to a lopsided victory, 116-88. It was the club’s eighth straight triumph, including six double-digit wins in a row. And it featured a familiar face.

Dante Exum, the teams No. 5 pick in 2014, got back to NBA action after missing the first 68 games of the season to fix and rehab a separated left shoulder. After a couple of practice stints with the SLC Stars, Utah’s G League affiliate, the Jazz decided their Aussie point guard was ready to go, and he entered the game to applause near the end of the first quarter.

Exum looked predictably winded at times, but his season debut could only be described as encouraging. He moved aggressively, didn’t shy from contact, and defended well both out on the perimeter and when switched onto big men. He played just over 14 minutes and came away with 10 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists. Here was his first bucket of the season, a step-through move after driving from out front.

The most encouraging thing about this play is that, if you watch from the beginning of the drive, the play actually starts with Exum absorbing a hit on his surgically repaired left shoulder. Not only does the contact not faze him at all, but he stays aggressive on the play, going into the defender instead of flinging the ball up while veering away from pressure. It was a gutsy move and one that makes it pretty obvious that he’s not out there thinking about his shoulder every step of the way.

His return was the big story, but there were plenty of stars behind Utah’s dominating performance. Donovan Mitchell and Joe Ingles powered a second-quarter run that got Utah out of trouble after a rugged start. Phoenix actually led 26-24 early in the second quarter, but a pair of Ingles threes started to turn the tide. The Jazz won the rest of that quarter to the tune of 32-17, capped by Mitchells two dunks and a 3-point basket, all within the final two minutes of the half.

Ingles finished the night with 17 points and four 3-pointers, while Mitchell led the Jazz with 23 points and threw in six boards and four assists for good measure.

Once the Jazz settled down, the biggest drama came in the form of a second-half altercation. Suns veteran Jared Dudley took issue to Rubio trying to quickly inbound while Marquese Chriss was still collecting himself after missing a dunk and falling to hardwood. Dudley pushed Rubio from the side to make his point, and when the two went face-to-face in the immediate aftermath of Dudley’s cheap shot, Chriss got up and delivered a blind push that again put Rubio on the floor. Shoving and shouting ensued as all 10 players, along with coaches, refs and security, melded into a morass. Once everything had been sorted out, Chriss and Dudley were tossed, while the Jazz picked up a couple of technicals (Mitchell and Ingles) for retaliatory pushing and jawing.

Those were the only high-blood-pressure moments in a second half that otherwise served as glorified exhibition. The Suns did exert a little pressure early in the fourth quarter, but never got closer than 13 back of the Jazz. When they did, threes by Mitchell and Jae Crowder started a 12-1 run, all Utah needed to put the game on ice and coast to their 39th win of the season.

Crowder was big again (15 points, 8 rebounds) and Rudy Gobert remains simply unstoppable. He turned in another 21-point, 13-rebound performance, bringing his averages over this current streak to 19 and 14. No longer just a defensive game-changer, Gobert is finishing pick-and-roll plays in ways we didn’t imagine possible just a couple seasons ago. On Thursday it was against the hapless Suns, whose big men are hardly defensive forces. But since his return from injury, it hasn’t mattered much who he’s facing. Just in this 8-game streak, Rudy has had big games against Andre Drummond’s Pistons, Anthony Davis’ Pelicans and Karl-Anthony Towns’ Timberwolves.

When Rubio wasn’t being used as a piñata, he had a very effective (if not efficient) night as well. He doled out 11 helpers, part of a 29-assist night for the Jazz. Rubio had a ridiculous +43 Net Rating after leading the Jazz to a 124 offense during his 31 minutes. It remains a seeming paradox that Rubio would have the most positive impact on the offense even on a night when he shot 5-for-15 himself. But that’s Ricky’s value. His recent aggressiveness puts so much pressure on the defense that he boosts the Jazz offense whether his shots drop or not. He also played solid defense and swiped four Phoenix possessions with steals.

On the other side of the ledger, Phoenix’s best scorer had a rough night. Devin Booker shot just 3-for-18 and finished with 12 points. He has now converted just 30.9 percent of his attempts vs. the Jazz this season, well below his season mark of 43.6 percent.

TJ Warren and Josh Jackson, second and third in total Suns points this season, picked up some of the slack on Thursday with 19 and 17 points, respectively. No other Sun reached double figures, and the team combined for an 82.6 offensive rating, including 22 turnovers.

Utah’s win brought moved them up a spot in the Western Conference standings. The LA Clippers lost in Houston, giving Utah the chance to jump to seventh. The Pelicans’ loss drops them to just a half a game ahead of the Jazz, and Utah is now within striking distance of a homecourt first round series, just 1.5 games back of fourth-place Oklahoma City.

As we typically do, we’ll reset the full playoff picture in the next Salt City Seven column.

Numbers of note:

73.1: Every Jazz player who touched the hardwood logged a sub-90 DRtg on Thursday. Ingles’ 73.1 was the best among the regular rotation guys. Man, how underrated is Joe as just a complete NBA player?

20: The Jazz won the points in the paint battle by 20 points, 54 to 34. They outscored the Suns by 15 from the 3-point line, too.

Author information

Dan Clayton

Dan covered Utah Jazz basketball for more than 10 years, including as a radio analyst for the team’s Spanish-language broadcasts from 2010 to 2014. He now lives and works in New York City, but contributes regularly to Salt City Hoops, FanRag and BBALLBreakdown.

Clint Johnson is a professional author, writing educator, and editor. He teaches writing at Salt Lake Community College. A frequent presenter at both writing and educational conferences, he writes about the Jazz as a break from his other writing work.

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The Utah Jazz’s Jonus Jerebko (8) poses after hitting one of his three three-point shots against the Detroit Pistons, the team who drafted him in 2009. (Getty Images/Gene Sweeney Jr.)

Story of the Game

The Detroit Pistons just jumped with both feet into a wood chipper named the Utah Jazz.

In arguably their most impressive outing of the season, Utah dominated Detroit in every facet of the game for an easy 110 – 79 home victory after returning from a perfect three-game road trip. Practically speaking, the game was over by the first quarter. Detroit ran face first into an offensive buzzsaw rarely seen outside of Golden State or Houston.

In a blur of dunks by Rudy Gobert and a barrage of six made threes on nine attempts, more makes than the Pistons managed all night, Detroit was systematically dismantled. Utah ended the quarter shooting 81 percent from the field, dished an impressive 13 assists on 17 made baskets, and scored an amazing 42 points in the game’s first 12 minutes.

The Pistons mustered half as many at 21.

Game over.

Rather than offer refunds the Jazz chose to play out the game, methodically stretching their advantage: 25 at halftime, 27 by the end of the third, and eventually 31 by game’s end.

By the final buzzer, Utah managed to out-shoot Detroit by nearly 20 percentage points from both the three point line and the field. Every Jazz starter was at least a plus-18 and, with an entire fourth quarter of garbage time, head coach Quin Snyder was able to rest his horses and play a full 12 player deep off his bench as he coasted to the team’s seventh straight win.

Stars of the Game

Superstar: Rudy Gobert (22 points, 12 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 blocks)

Gobert’s scoring was typically efficient thanks to making nine of his 12 attempts from the field. Uncharacteristically by recent standards, he did miss five of his nine free throw attempts, so he actually should have had at least a few more points. Yet that can be overlooked given his superb response after Andre Drummond produced a historic 30 point, 24 rebound, six block gem of a game against Gobert earlier this season. Tonight, Drummond was thoroughly outplayed, managing only 13 points on eight shots. Gobert’s reputation as a player who takes challenges personally will only deepen after thoroughly frustrating Drummond tonight.

Against the Pistons’s outmatched squad, Ingles cerebral game was on full display as he faked and juked his way wherever he wanted on the floor. The game opened with Gobert trundling to the rim repeatedly for wide open dunks thanks to Ingles manipulation of Detroit’s defense. Other times, he leaked out off patented flair screens or pulled up in the secondary break for wide open three pointers, of which he made three of five attempts. It’s simply insane that the best three point shooter in the league over the past two seasons keeps getting wide open looks from long range, but it keeps on keeping on.

After a quiet stretch where his jumper failed him, Jerebko has joined Jae Crowder recently to bolster Utah’s bench. Tonight he punished the team that drafted him in the second round in 2009. He nailed three of five attempts from long range and grabbed four times as many rebounds as Blake Griffin, which should say a ton about how the Griffin experiment is going in Detroit. Jerebko plays with constant enthusiasm and, now that his sweet stroke is back, the permanent smile that has come to mark his game in his first season in Salt Lake.

O’Neale continues to make a positive impact without demanding either shots or attention, making him a perfect cog in Quin Snyder’s well-tuned machine. The 24-year-old rookie’s plus-minus on the season of plus-2.6 is higher than any Jazz player averaging at least 15 minutes per game with the exception of Crowder and Gobert.

Stats of the Game

111 – Utah’s offensive rating, the same as the 50 and 17 Toronto Raptors’s offense this season.

80.3 – Utah defensive rating, more than 20 points per 100 possessions better than the league-leading Celtics on the year.

Sundries

The Pistons shot five of 25 from three tonight, which isn’t at all surprising. With both Reggies out (Jackson and Bullock), there may be no team in the league with less shooting.

In a matchup between two of the few teams in the league that start two fairly traditional bigs, Utah’s duo clearly outclassed Detroit’s. Where Gobert and Favors managed a combined 34 points on 19 shots along with 16 rebounds, Drummond and Griffin countered with only 26 points on 24 shots and 13 rebounds. The Jazz also outscored the Pistons by 14 in the paint.

A pattern is starting to emerge in the Jazz’s win streak. Often, opposing offenses are managing to keep pace with the Jazz by relying on bursts of made long two point shots, which is how Detroit opened the game tonight. As the meat of an offense, those shots really aren’t sustainable and when they stop failing team’s quickly find themselves in a hole against the Jazz. It’s fascinating how many of the shots the Jazz have gotten recently are shots they want while the shots they allow opponents are also the shots they want to give up. It’s a tough formula to beat.

While it would be easy to see no silver lining for Detroit in this game, Stanley Johnson’s defense was worth noting. He had four steals and showed the quickness to keep up with Donovan Mitchell one-on-one, which is super impressive for a player as strong as Johnson. If his offensive game ever finds some consistency, he’ll be a good piece when he gets a shot to contribute to a quality team.

Raul Neto will miss a few weeks with a broken wrist, yet providence has it that the notoriously conservative Jazz are publically stating they hope for Dante Exum to be available to play this week. Everything is working in Utah’s favor now.

While Utah currently sits on an 11-game road win streak, one of only 10 such streaks in the last 20 years, the team must be reveling in this stretch of home cooking against inferior competition. And they Must capitalize. It truly is remarkable that the Jazz remain in a dogfight for a playoff slot after winning 19 of 21 games. Their competition for playoff position just keep winning: the Spurs, Pelicans, Clippers, Thunder, and Timberwolves all won tonight, while Denver and the Lakers are going nearing crunch time in a tight contest. The Jazz just have to keep winning, and a home game against the Suns on Thursday is about as good an opportunity to do that as exists.

Author information

Clint Johnson

Clint Johnson is a professional author, writing educator, and editor. He teaches writing at Salt Lake Community College. A frequent presenter at both writing and educational conferences, he writes about the Jazz as a break from his other writing work.

Clint Johnson is a professional author, writing educator, and editor. He teaches writing at Salt Lake Community College. A frequent presenter at both writing and educational conferences, he writes about the Jazz as a break from his other writing work.

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The Utah Jazz’s Donovan Mitchell (45) scored 27 in Utah’s blowout of the New Orleans Pelicans, the same team he scored 41 against earlier this season. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Story of the Game

The Utah Jazz 17-point victory over the New Orleans Pelicans, 116 to 99, may be the most unique blowout in recent memory.

Utah brought a 10-game road winning streak to stack up against a New Orleans team that had won 10 straight games before Anthony Davis missed a contest due to injury. But the MVP candidate, who has been dragging his team up the playoff standings largely on his own, returned to the court to mark his 25th birthday.

Neither team shot well in the first quarter as three rapid fouls on Derrick Favors, who has traditionally played very well against Davis, completely changed the complexion of this game. Yet a rapid stretch of four of six shooting from long range helped the Jazz to an early 23 to 13 lead.

Then Davis took the game into his two ginormous hands.

Perhaps the best player in the league the past month, Davis utterly dictated play offensive and defensively for much of the contest. He ended the night with 25 points, 11 rebounds, 10 blocks, three steals, and three assists in 40 minutes on the court, earning his first career triple double. Defensively, he essentially turned half of the floor into a black hole where Jazz shots simply disappeared. By halftime he had six blocks and all three of his steals.

Utah’s offense crumbled under the pressure in the second quarter, shooting 31 percent from the field and only making a single three in 10 attempts. Ricky Rubio willed his team to stay in the game with 17 points in the half, and Joe Ingles’s mature offense added a desperately needed 11. But the Pelicans still ripped off a 28 to 19 second quarter to take a three-point halftime lead.

The confident Pelicans continued to press their advantage, upping their lead to a game-high nine points at 66 to 57 with 4:59 to play in the third. Utah looked demoralized and enervated, suffering from unparalleled cold shooting from the majority of their dependable players. Donovan Mitchell: one of nine. Rudy Gobert: two of 10. Jae Crowder, who was coming off a season-high 22 points against Memphis: zero of seven. Derrick Favors: in foul trouble and not really involved in the offense all night.

Then Mitchell started to heat up. He hit a layup, only his fourth point of the night. Then a three went in. A reverse layup followed.

The Pelicans managed to keep their lead and because he simply couldn’t play all game, Davis went out after scoring his 25th point of the evening. In his absence, Mitchell incinerated the Pelicans.

In one of the most remarkable performances in franchise history, Utah’s beloved rookie scored 18 points in a three-minute-23-second stretch to close the third and open the fourth quarters. He shot six of seven in that time, including two of three from long range, and threw in four free throws as he repeatedly attacked the rim.

Utah’s nine point deficit became a seven-point lead and the Jazz never looked back. Davis returned the game spent, perhaps feeling his sprained ankle after resting it, and maybe demoralized by seeing a lead he essentially built himself burned away in an offensive burst of electric perfection by a rookie.

From the moment Mitchell took over to the end of the game, the Jazz outscored the Pelicans 53 to 31… in 15 minutes of play. What had once looked like a distressing loss became a 17-point blowout, making Utah only the 10th team in the last 20 years to win 11 straight games on the road.

Rubio had his greatest game in a Jazz uniform, and quite possibly the greatest game of his NBA career considering the importance of this contest in the playoff chase. He was fantastic, producing his second-best scoring outing of the season as he made four of five three point shots and all six of his free throw attempts. He also led the team in assists. What doesn’t show in the stat line is his passion and toughness, which propped up the team through long stretches of inept shooting and wavering confidence.

Gobert was nearly as brilliant, coming on late offensively to cap off an all-around excellent game. His nine-for-nine night from the free throw line compensated for one of his worst shooting games of the year. A few weeks ago he went 12 of 14 from the stripe as the Jazz outlasted Minnesota on their home court. That type of free throw accuracy is unheard of for rim protectors of his caliber.

So with two such amazing games from Rubio and Gobert, why does Mitchell get top billing in today’s superstar list? 18 points in three minutes and 23 seconds! That is the type of firepower that Stephen Curry and Damian Lillard have used to redraw the offensive possibilities of basketball. It may well be the most explosive offensive outburst by any player in Jazz history! Just watch how the 21-year-old dismantles New Orleans in the final 15 minutes of this game:

Ingles scoring was vital, particularly in the first half when Davis was outplaying the whole Jazz roster by himself. Ingles’s 16 points before Utah’s late offensive explosion were enough when added to Rubio’s scoring to keep the Jazz treading water until Mitchell evaporated the Pelicans.

Secret Star: Jae Crowder (5 points, 4 rebounds, 1 block, +22)

Immediately on the heels of his season-high 22-point game, today Crowder couldn’t hit the floor after falling out of bed. He shot a putrid one of 11, though that single make was a three. He added two free throws to tally his five points, only the second time he’s failed to score in double figures in a Jazz uniform. It was the worst possible time for such struggles given Favors’s foul trouble. Which is why it’s so key that Utah managed to outscore New Orleans by 22 in Crowder’s 32 minutes despite his awful shooting. It’s amazing how he helps the Jazz playing winning ball even when his shot isn’t falling.

Stats of the Game

3:23 – It bears repeating: 18 points in 3:23. Carried out over 36 minutes, that rate of scoring would net over 190 points.

64 – Pelicans points in the paint. With Davis frequently pulling Gobert away from the hoop, they really missed Favors as a second rim protector.

27 – Fast break points for New Orleans, an area that has been a typical strength for the Jazz this season.

150.7 – Utah’s offensive rating from 3:08 in the third to the game’s end. Thank you, Donovan Mitchell!

24/25 – Free throws made/taken by the Jazz. Amazingly, Gobert (9 of 9), Rubio (6 of 6), Mitchell (4 of 4) and Ingles (3 of 4) took and made all but two.

Sundries

It’s hard to recall a more schizophrenic game. Long swathes of this contest felt all but unwatchable from a Jazz perspective; others were as exciting as anything this franchise has witnessed in years. To be on the losing end of tonight, and in what turned into a real thumping, must have the Pelicans shaken.

The impact of pace in this game was glaring. New Orleans’s commitment to getting the ball up the floor and at the rim as quickly as possible makes it easy to see how they play at the fastest pace in the league since DeMarcus Cousins was injured for the season, and by a notable margin. I think that pace, combined with Utah’s offensive barrage, just exhausted them physically and mentally by the closing minutes of this game.

Emeka Okafor was out of the league for FOUR YEARS before being conscripted by New Orleans for a run at the playoffs. Tonight he had 11 points on five of six shooting to go with six rebounds and a block. Not enough has been said about the unlikely competence he’s added to this team.

Almost never do the Jazz have to stand up against a defensive force akin to Gobert, someone who can seem to guard an entire team by himself. Davis did that tonight, after coming back from a hurt ankle. Between his length and mobility he seemed to play according to different laws of physics for much of the night, making plays other players never even think of attempting as they recognize they’re just not possible. Given the weight he’s shouldered during the recent winning streak, it’s hard to imagine that he won’t run out of gas at points in the future as he did in the closing period tonight.

Rubio, Mitchell, Ingles, and Gobert combined for 96 points. Wow!

Great players can traumatize entire franchises. Jordan and the Cavaliers. LeBron and the Hawks. While he has a lot left to do, Mitchell has laid the groundwork for that type of impact on New Orleans. He scored 41 to close them out earlier this season, taking over in the fourth quarter. He just scored 25 in the final 15 minutes of play, turning a game they thought they had into a blowout loss. Now with 28 losses, there’s no telling where New Orleans might fall in the playoff race. Should they fail to make the postseason, or even fall to seventh or eighth where a quick loss to either Golden State or Houston is all but assured, what effect might that have on Davis’s confidence in the Pelicans?

The Jazz have won 18 of 20 and, amazingly, still have not managed to climb into eighth position in the Western Conference playoff standings. Against all odds, the Clippers are seven and three in their last 10 games and refuse to go away. Denver kept pace with the Jazz by smashing the Kings today, while the Timberwolves upset the Curry-less Warriors.

There is incredible basketball being played around the cutoff line to the playoffs out west. But one things is certain: after three straight blowout wins on the road, any team but a championship favorite is an underdog against the Jazz right now. And their next five opponents are the Pistons on Tuesday, then the Suns, Kings, Hawks, and Mavericks, all teams out of playoff contention.

Author information

Clint Johnson

Clint Johnson is a professional author, writing educator, and editor. He teaches writing at Salt Lake Community College. A frequent presenter at both writing and educational conferences, he writes about the Jazz as a break from his other writing work.

Clint Johnson is a professional author, writing educator, and editor. He teaches writing at Salt Lake Community College. A frequent presenter at both writing and educational conferences, he writes about the Jazz as a break from his other writing work.

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Donovan Mitchell throws down a fourth quarter slam worthy of the dunk champion in the Jazz’s 95 to 78 win in Memphis, Utah’s 17th victory in 19 games. (The Canadian Press)

Story of the Game

In perhaps the most predictable result of the NBA season, the Utah Jazz, winners of 17 of their last 19 games, defeated the Memphis Grizzlies, losers of 15 straight, 95 to 78, holding the Grizzlies to a season-low score on their home court.

Since 2011, games between these two teams have resulted in the lowest combined point total of any two teams in the league. So the final score was no surprise.

It really took only one strong quarter for the Jazz to establish a lead Memphis simply lacked the firepower to overcome, and that proved to be the second quarter. In the period Utah made five of 11 threes, two each by Jae Crowder and Joe Ingles, while holding Memphis to 30-percent shooting without a single triple. By quarter’s end, Utah held a 12-point lead that would never be threatened.

The Grizzlies simply lacked the scoring punch to challenge Utah’s defense, which held the home team to 55 points on 35-percent shooting over the final three quarters. Marc Gasol’s (9 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 blocks) strange absence from the Memphis offense played a major role in this futility. The Grizzlies’s best player – honestly, the only player on their roster who measures up as a quality NBA starter in the absence of the injured Mike Conley – tied Kobi Simmons (???) for the fewest shots among the home team’s starters. Perhaps that can be attributed to the impact of Rudy Gobert (4 points, 10 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 2 blocks).

The all-league centers largely cancelled each other out, and pitting their supporting casts against each other was an easy win for Utah – just not an aesthetic one.

Stars of the Game

It makes sense that they guy with the body of an outside linebacker was Utah’s most comfortable player against the Grizzlies snatch and smack defense. When many of his teammates were playing off balance and rushing shots, clearly discomforted by the physical play, Crowder calmly took open three after open three, nailing six for his season high scoring mark, including his games in Cleveland. More, his threes came at key moments, particularly in the first half when Utah built its lead and with under five minutes left in the fourth quarter to staunch Memphis’s final chance to make an unlikely run at a win.

Ingles and Rubio were instrumental in the only two areas Utah’s offense really thrived: from the three point line (Ingles four of six shooting) and at the free throw line (Rubio’s nine of 11). Rubio shot more free throws than the rest of the team combined, and along with Ingles marksmanship from three was enough support for Crowder for the Jazz to earn an easy if ugly win.

O’Neale’s jumper has left him as he bricked all three of his long-range attempts on the night. But even so, his all-around game makes him a worthwhile contributor even when his shot isn’t falling, as illustrated by the Jazz outscoring the Grizzlies by 12 with the rookie on the court, matching the team’s plus-minus bench high posted by Crowder.

Stats of the Game

24 – Grizzlies points in the paint to Utah’s 38.

20 – Jazz fast break points, which was key in this matchup where points are notoriously difficult to find.

26 – Jazz assists. The team is now 13 and one in games where they dish that many.

52 – Memphis’s points per 100 possessions in the 14-plus minutes O’Neale played in the second half.

Sundries

This Grizziles team should be radio only. Televising these games is risking someone going blind at the grotesquery.

For the second time this season, Donovan Mitchell (12 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 block, 3 threes) struggled offensively against the Grizzlies, scoring only 12 points on 15 shots. While Memphis isn’t the grit and grind unit of the past, against the slow-tempo Jazz they play physically against perimeter players, denying the ball on the wings and bumping up against offensive players out beyond the three point line. This bothered Mitchell on the perimeter, and when he drove Marc Gasol was always in position to either block or heavily contest the shot, typically while bumping Mitchell out of the air in the process. As amazing as Mitchell has been this season, the Grizzlies’s ability to defend him may portend some growing pains should the Jazz advance to the playoffs, where play is much more physical than the regular season.

Gobert and Favors are each talented, but they both could learn something about toughness from Crowder, specifically, how to meet force with force. Each of the Jazz bigs is prone to accept contact and move with it, be it when taking a shot or fighting for a rebound. They then complain to the referees when no foul is called. Favors especially has the strength to resist such play. If they get fouls by bodying away players too roughly, so be it. Better that than repeatedly being pushed off balance in plays they are in position to make.

Mitchell’s five turnovers certainly aren’t ideal, but they’re the price of asking a rookie to make plays for teammates. In the past two games, Mitchell has had a combined 12 assists but also 11 turnovers.

At the time this is published, New Orleans 10-game winning streak has ended but Denver used a late storm to defeat the Lakers while Portland and the Clippers have sizable leads in their respective games at around halftime. Utah keeps winning games, but their rivals for the final six playoff spots out West are pretty much keeping pace. This Sunday’s matinee against the Pelicans, who may get the injured MVP candidate Anthony Davis back that game, will be huge in determining the Jazz’s playoff fate.

Author information

Clint Johnson

Clint Johnson is a professional author, writing educator, and editor. He teaches writing at Salt Lake Community College. A frequent presenter at both writing and educational conferences, he writes about the Jazz as a break from his other writing work.

Dan covered Utah Jazz basketball for more than 10 years, including as a radio analyst for the team’s Spanish-language broadcasts from 2010 to 2014. He now lives and works in New York City, but contributes regularly to Salt City Hoops, FanRag and BBALLBreakdown.

The Jazz are once again rolling, taking a four-game win streak into their final stretch of games, which starts tonight in Memphis.

In this week’s Salt City Seven column, we’ll use our seven sections to shine a light on some of themes and heroes behind the 16-2 resurgence, and of course reset the playoff race in the West’s wild 3-through-10 chase.

A quick(ish) exploration of a prominent theme from the week or the current state of Utah Jazz basketball.

The Jazz are undeniably, unquestionably good again. How good they are might be a question of their depth, and they have engineered their personnel in such a way that they’re getting good play throughout the rotation..

According to FiveThirtyEight’s team rating system, the Jazz are as good as they have been since the wheels started to come off the Deron Williams-era squad. Their CAR-MELO is at 1621, nearly equaling the post-DW peak (1633) that last year’s Jazz hit after round one of the playoffs. In other words, the current Jazz are as good as any squad they’ve put on the floor in eight seasons.

Utah is 24-15 when Rudy Gobert plays, including 19-8 since they made Donovan Mitchell a regular starter 12 games into the season. Bottom line: they’ve found a really solid core, and when that core plays, they’re nearly as good as the group that forced the league to take note a year ago.

But their record in other games raises the question: what happens when that solid core sits down? Do the Jazz have a bench problem?

It has felt like it on some nights. There have been times when units featuring mostly reserves have felt clunky and challenged. But a closer look at lineup data shows that the Jazz’s second unit — as presently constituted — is actually performing better than the eye test might intimate.

Honestly, trades and the Jazz’s revolving door of injuries make it a bit hard to trust lineup data. Rotational lineups that on any other team would have already seen dozens of minutes together still have pretty small samples in this context. But there are 37 different 5-man squads that have played at least 15 minutes together, and even though 15 minutes is a pretty low cutoff for statistical significance, it’s a start.

Of those 37, 25 groups have included at least three of the regular starters, and those lineups are mostly positive. In fact the only lineups that feature 3+ starters and have a Net Rating that surrenders more than a bucket or so per 100 possessions involve Rodney Hood and/or Joe Johnson, two players the Jazz chose to move on from in a mid-season deal.

Minimum: 15 minutes. Source: stats.nba.com

Three-starter lineups that don’t feature either of those departed scorers have generally fared pretty well. The starting five as a group is plus-1.1, in itself an achievement given that the quintet was quite a bit underwater before their late January resurgence. Swap in Jonas Jerebko or Thabo Sefolosha in for Gobert it flips to slightly negative, but only by a point or two. And literally every other lineup featuring three or more of their starters is positive, most by a wide margin.

Gobert, Jerebko and the three starting smalls are +7.8. Make it Jae Crowder instead of Jereko and they’re +30. Or replace Ricky Rubio with Royce O’Neale in the original fivesome and you get +12. That same group with Crowder in for Derrick Favors and you’re still at +5.5.

And those are just the lineups with 40 minutes or more. When the Jazz go to a Mitchell-Alec Burks backcourt combo with Joe Ingles and Jerebko at the forward spots, they outscore opponents by a bunch, whether Favors (+22.3) or Gobert (+24.9) is the center. In the 21 minutes where Sefolosha joined the starters (in Gobert’s spot) before his injury, the Jazz were +41.

The further you go down the list, the more dubious the sample sizes become, but by this point the trend should be pretty clear: any combination with at least three starters and without the departed Hood or Johnson gives the Jazz a really good shot.

So what about bench units?

Once again, there’s a bit of a Hood/Johnson impact here. Any lineup that included Johnson and at least two other reserves was drastically negative, except for one group that saw action in just three games. Hood’s bag was a little more mixed; he was part of a very successful all-bench lineup before Sefolosha got hurt, as well as a different version that had Rubio at the point with four subs. He was also a part of a few groups with a negative rating.

But remove those Hood and Johnson lineups and you’ll find — perhaps surprisingly — that even lineups with mostly subs have been working. There are only three groups like this with 15 minutes or more, but they’re driving very positive results.

Minimum 15 minutes, source: stats.nba.com

So again, disclaimer: 15 to 30 minutes is not much in terms of sample, but given the injuries and the in-season acquisition of Crowder, this is what we have to work with. (Any time you see +117.8, you know we’re talking about a miniscule sample size. That number is, um, not sustainable.)

It’s interesting that all three of these positive groups include O’Neale and Jerebko. It’s just as interesting that any of Utah’s three centers can be a successful anchor to these bench mobs. Raul Neto appears in two of the three lineups. Crowder does too, and it’s meaningful that they’re getting a good impact from him even while he’s still struggling with his shot. They also could get a reinforcement in the days ahead as Dante Exum reportedly inches closer to his return from shoulder rehab.

But the most interesting thing about this exercise was the discovery that, with the Jazz’s current personnel, they can play winning basketball with a lot of different combinations.

Words from a Jazz player or coach about a relevant or timely topic.

“I’ve said it multiple times, but I think it’s still the same thing: just getting to know each other. We had a lot of turnover from last year. Getting those guys in the system… we had injuries, we had the trade deadline, getting Jae. Now we’re getting healthy and we’re obviously playing well together and within the system. Just getting comfortable with each other.”

– Ingles on the Jazz’s improved road play (and play overall)

The Jazz haven’t lost a road game since January 22, that lackluster outing in Atlanta that coach Quin Snyder used to call guys to repentance. Since then, they’ve won nine straight outside of Salt Lake, by an average margin of 13.6 points.

Keeping track of Utah’s playoff chances

The absolutely bonkers 3-through-10 race in the West hasn’t let up a single bit. At some point, a team or two may fall off, or someone may separate themselves from the pack with an extended win streak. But for now, it’s still just four losses separating these eight teams, and six of them are just two wins apart.

15 to 19 left.

Quick observations:

Portland looks legit, and if any team pulls away from the pack and settled into the No. 3 spot early, they’re the best bet. They have a tough schedule, but most of their games left against teams in this scrum are home contests.

Even though they have virtually the same record as Portland, I’m less convinced about the Pelicans. Their 10-game win streak is in large part a product of a soft patch, and they have a brutal stretch coming up. They play 10 games in the next 16 nights, and Anthony Davis is day-to-day with an ankle injury.

Minny’s playoff spot looked pretty safe until a Jimmy Butler injury and three straight losses. Their next four are the Warriors, at the Wizards and Spurs, then back home for the Rockets. In other words, they could be in some amount of trouble.

Stats and figures that help tell prominent stories from the week.

83.9

Jerebko’s DRtg during the current 4-game win streak, the best on the team among anybody who’s played all four.

116.2

Gobert’s team-leading ORtg during the same stretch.

78.9%

Favors’ field goal percentage on paint touches since January 24. For an idea of just how good that is, LeBron James leads the league (minimum 30 attempts) at 78.3% for the season, followed closely by Kevin Durant and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Favors has just been beastly of late, as big an ingredient to Utah’s turnaround as just about anybody.

A quick dissection of an awesome bit of Jazz offense from the week.

This week, let’s just take a quick look at a couple of tactics that have been working for the Jazz small forwards lately.

Let’s start with Crowder. Crowder is still struggling with his shot overall, with just 30 percent from deep and .478 true shooting since he joined the Jazz. But he’s found that’s been working: cutting from the left wing opposite a right-side pick-and-roll.

In all of these cases, it’s an outside P&R, with the ball handler going toward the right sideline. Crowder knows when that happens, his defender’s attention is going to drift to making sure help isn’t needed as the guard turns a corner. It may seem like a small thing, but this is a way for the Marquette product to inch back toward “Boston Jae.” Crowder scored in the 98th percentile on plays finished off of a cut in his last year with the Celtics, with 1.67 points produced per this type of possession.

It’s also worth noting that in each of these plays, Crowder is the nominal second big on the floor. This works precisely because the middle is wide open — Derrick Favors is the lone true big, and he has his man occupied guarding the P&R.

And then there is Ingles, who has been doing a bit of everything lately. Watch the opportunities he’s able to create by exploiting his own “gravity.”

Ingles is the second best long-range bomber in the league right now, which means that often he’ll have a defender or two running right at him when he catches. In each of these plays, a defender closes out sloppily on the Aussie shooter, and he gets around them and forces help. From there, it’s just careful dissection of a scrambling defense. Each time, the Jazz get an attempt at the rim — including Joe’s third dunk of the season!

Doling out credit for Jazz wins, one imaginary Spalding at a time.

Just so you know, “ballon de jeu” is game ball in French. That information could come in handy this week.

Jazz 116, Timberwolves 108: Rudy Gobert

Plenty of folks joked that this one should go to Karl Anthony Towns, or to referee Kane Fitzgerald for somewhat arbitrarily dismissing him from the contest. The fact is, the Jazz were well on their way to a win before KAT’s mild tantrum and quick dismissal, or before Jeff Teague sent Rubio flying into the bench. Gobert was the main reason why the Jazz were in great shape even before KAT hit the early shower. The big man scored 26 points on just NINE shots, and he added 16 boards and 4 blocks, keeping Minnesota in first place as the team most often rejected by Rudy throughout his career. Mitchell had another 26, and Favors was under-the-radar great with 15 on 7-of-8 shooting.

Jazz 98, Kings 91: Donovan Mitchell

A lot of guys were sneaky good on Saturday. Rubio’s shot was off, so at first glance his production doesn’t stand out to stat-watchers, but his fingerprints were all over the game. His 10-8-6-4 line bears that out, and Favors was again beastly inside on the way to an efficient 15 & 8. But this came down to The Don and Stifle. Pick your poison really: Gobert sported a do-everything line (16-12-2-3-3) and had a palpable impact defensively, while Mitchell had just another quiet, steady 27-5-5 outing. Flip a coin, but I went with Mitchell, if only for variety’s sake. The 10-for-10 night from the line was big, as well.

Jazz 94, Magic 80: Rudy Gobert

Rudy just did whatever he wanted to against Orlando. Town and Dwight Howard are the only other players this season to match Gobert’s 21 & 17 on 10 or fewer shots, and Rudy is one of just two Jazz players (Carlos Boozer) to accomplish such a feat. But if you watched the game, you don’t even need the stats. He was just dominant. Finishing through contact on pick-and-rolls, vacuuming up loose balls, and even knocking down an off-the-glass jumper from angle left like some sort of Tim Duncan impersonator. Also considered: Ingles was unstoppable early and finished with 18 points, 7 boards, 8 dimes and 3 steals.

Jazz 104, Pacers 84: Rudy Gobert

Rubio could have easily claimed this one. He had his best game since the break, in terms of process being joined by results. He has been playing great and putting pressure on defenses, so his fingerprints have been all over games, even as his shot has been off. In Indy, Ricky stayed aggressive and actually got to see his shot go down, too: 18 points, to go with six boards, seven assists and three steals. But how do you deny Rudy, who dominated every facet of the game. He was unstoppable on the P&R, and it wasn’t just dunks either; he finished with finesse a few times, and even nailed a one-leg pull-up from 10 feet. The final damage: 23-and-14, and the best O-Rating among the starters. Yeah… offensive rating. Also considered: Ingles had the first double-digit assist night by a non-Rubio Jazzman this season, and led the team in Net Rating.

Because, at the end of the day, this should be fun.

There were so many fun things to choose from this week. A front-row Utahn reacting to Crowder’s cursing, Ingles punctuating a big road win with some towel-throwing antics, or Mitchell making a kid’s night in Indy.

But let’s end with a taste of the Jazz’s hilarious Insta-battle from this week, the one that prompted Gobert to proclaim that the rookies are getting “too comfortable.” SCH alum Spencer Wixom captured the highlights in this thread:

Author information

Dan Clayton

Dan covered Utah Jazz basketball for more than 10 years, including as a radio analyst for the team’s Spanish-language broadcasts from 2010 to 2014. He now lives and works in New York City, but contributes regularly to Salt City Hoops, FanRag and BBALLBreakdown.

Clint Johnson is a professional author, writing educator, and editor. He teaches writing at Salt Lake Community College. A frequent presenter at both writing and educational conferences, he writes about the Jazz as a break from his other writing work.

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The Indiana Pacers hardly slowed down Ricky Rubio and the Utah Jazz as they sprinted to a 20-point win in Indiana, their ninth straight road victory as Utah closes ever-nearer playoff position. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Story of the Game

The Utah Jazz played one of their better games of the season, which was enough for a 20-point road win against the Indiana Pacers, 104 – 84.

The Pacers jumped out to a quick eight to two lead and, though the Jazz soon fought back, midway through the quarter this looked like the game many had anticipated: a tight contest between one team fighting to keep home court in the East and the 10th ranked Western team charging hard for a playoff spot. But the Pacers offense was heavily reliant on midrange jump shots while Utah missed six of their first seven three point shots.

Later in the quarter both those things changed and the Jazz reeled off a 21 to six run to close the quarter, giving them a 32 to 20 lead. They would not relinquish that double-figure advantage for more than a few moments for the rest of the night.

With Utah’s defense playing well – Indiana shot only 39 percent from the field in the game – and its offense humming to the tune of 51 percent shooting from the floor, the Pacers’s only hope was the ever-present wild card of the NBA game, the three point shot. Unfortunately for them, the Pacers are a team that, like the Jazz, is prone to prolonged cold spells from long range, and tonight they were sealed in an ice locker. Indiana managed only three made threes on 23 attempts (13 percent), and one of those came in the final minute of a game long lapsed to garbage time.

Without the ability to chew away at the lead three points at a time, Indiana’s only run of the game in the third quarter was only able to cut the lead from 20 to 10 by the end of the period. The Jazz calmly went on a nine to nothing run to start the fourth quarter, ballooning the lead back to 19, and the Pacers mentally gave in on their home floor.

The win is the Jazz’s ninth straight on the road, one of the longest such streaks in the NBA this season and probably the most unlikely given Utah started the year out as the worst road team in the NBA.

Stars of the Game

Superstar: Rudy Gobert (23 points, 14 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal)

Last year Gobert closed out the season terrorizing the league, and since returning from injury this year he’s doing exactly the same. The Stifle Tower regularly dictates play on the defensive end, but in the last four games he has scored 16 or more points per contest on an incredible 78 percent shooting from the field. Tonight’s 23 points are notable because only three came from the free throw line (on four attempts). Gobert’s ability to score 20 points on 10 of 14 shooting shows just how much his offensive game has developed, to the point where he can rightly claim to be one of the most impactful all-around players in the NBA.

Donovan Mitchell scored 20 and dished six assists, but turned the ball over six times. Ricky Rubio scored 18, added seven assists, and six rebounds, but required 18 shots for those points. Ingles was quietly more influential than either guard, scoring 11 on only eight field goal attempts and leading the team with his career-high 10 assists. As is commonly the case, an apparently quiet game by Ingles proved extremely influential in the win, as illustrated by the Aussie’s team-high plus-22 in the game.

Neto had struggled since his return to the lineup from injury, proving a liability while on the court and heightening anticipation of Dante Exum’s return. Tonight the Brazilian steadied the ship, helping the Jazz outscore Indiana by 15 in his nine minutes of play. That he didn’t take a shot but managed three assists in that span shows how well he ran Utah’s offense, and that type of orchestration will be necessary off the bench for Utah to make the playoffs.

Stats of the Game

30 – Jazz assists, their fifth time this season hitting the 30-assist mark, all wins.

20 – Indiana’s advantage in second chance points, where they destroyed Utah 24 to four. It’s amazing that this was so and they still lost by 20.

1 – Made free throw by Utah in the first half on three attempts. They upped that to 10 on 13 attempts in the second half.

8 – More threes made by the Jazz than the Pacers. A team that gives up 24 from beyond the arc just won’t win the modern NBA.

Sundries

The Jazz allowed Indiana only a single substantial run tonight, a scoring burst near the end of the third quarter that cut the lead from near 20 to 10 by quarter’s end. But the Jazz led this game by double figures for most of the night, so allowing only a single such burst is quite impressive. It’s really hard to keep a double figure lead for the majority of an NBA game, especially on the road against a good team. The Jazz did that tonight.

Gobert made a pair of ridiculous shots in the fourth quarter. The first was an off-balance giraffe of a midrange fall away jumper that went in. A minute later he was fouled going to the hoop and, turning his body with the contact, flicked the ball in the air sidearm and banked it in. When those two went through the hoop, the Pacers must have known this wasn’t their night.

While Derrick Favors wasn’t super involved tonight, it is interesting that the Jazz opened the game with Favors cutting to the hoop after curling around a screen at the elbow for a score. He also made his ninth three pointer of the season. For what it’s worth, Favors has now taken three shots from long range in four games season. He’s made at least one in each game and is five of 12 overall in those contests.

Thaddeus Young is one of the more underrated players in the league and has killed the Jazz in the past. Tonight he wasn’t particularly involved despite playing 31 minutes.

Mitchell has dished at least four assists in five of his last six games and seven of his last nine.

The Jazz are now 11 and two when Rubio takes at least 14 shots. I have no idea how this works.

Trevor Booker debuted for the Pacers but managed only two points and two rebounds in 14 minutes of play.

Lance Stephenson had a uniquely awful game: zero points on five missed shots, one rebound, three turnovers, and a technical foul. He was a minus-19 for the game.

The Denver Nuggets host the reeling Cleveland Cavaliers tonight. Should Utah’s fellow Wasatch Front franchise lose that game, Utah would be tied with the Nuggets and only half a game behind the Clippers for the eighth playoff spot in the West. Whatever other teams do, expect the Jazz to storm into Memphis on Friday with confidence they will run their road win streak to 10.

Author information

Clint Johnson

Clint Johnson is a professional author, writing educator, and editor. He teaches writing at Salt Lake Community College. A frequent presenter at both writing and educational conferences, he writes about the Jazz as a break from his other writing work.

Steve studied journalism and English, and now teaches high school in Northern Utah. He started his own website and writes about being a Tortured Jazz fan at: http://www.thetorturedfan.com/. He joined the Salt City Hoops team at the start of the 2017-18 season to connect with more Jazz fans and to continue to apply his passion for writing and for basketball.

Mitchell reaches around defenders to scoop home two of his 19 (via ESPN.com)

The Utah Jazz’s latest win started with a 9-0 offensive run and ended in holding their opposition to a 13-point fourth quarter. When you combine offense and defense, you get the win. The Jazz did so for the 15th time in 17 outings, beating Orlando 94-80 in Salt Lake on Monday night.

On the first offensive possession of the game, Donovan Mitchell had a decent look for three. Instead of settling for the jumper, he pump faked and drove in for an easy deuce. On the ensuing defensive possession, the Jazz forced a 24-shot clock violation. It was just that kind of night. Here’s how it breaks down by quarter, with some anecdotes along the way.

1st Q: Points in the Paint

The Jazz overcame the absence of Derrick Favors (neck spasm) and had no trouble packing the paint. It started with the Mitchell drive on the first possession, but the rest of the team followed his example. On pick-and-roll plays, Joe Ingles and Ricky Rubio were able to curl, draw defenders, and then dish inside to a big. For the season, the Jazz shoot 61 percent from within five feet of the hoop as the bigs catch the oops or guards get easy floaters/lay-ins. Rudy Gobert took full advantage with six easy buckets and the team scored 14 of their 25 in the paint, but still trailed 29-25 at the end of the quarter.

Shoutout…

….to Epke Udoh. Within thirty seconds, the man grabbed a steal and then a block. He was ready to play when called upon. Udoh has perhaps registered more minutes than expected, but he is a versatile defender who has accepted his role and plays hard. In fact, in just 50 games this season, Udoh has collected 62 blocks. With Favors out, he was due for minutes and was ready. He knows what he is good at it and does it well.

2nd Q: A Clamp Down

Both teams shot well in the first quarter, the Jazz at 50 percent and Orlando at 54, but the numbers were bound to regress. Both teams couldn’t stay that hot, and luckily for the Jazz, it was the Magic who took a dip. At the half, Rudy (12 points) and Ingles (16 points) had shots falling to put the Jazz’s percentage at 53 percent. Orlando? In the second quarter alone, they scored 15 total points on 5-of-22 shooting.

In fact, the Jazz connected 8-for-10 during one stretch to really pull away. At the same time, a 12-0 run in two and a half minutes really helped while the Magic went without a field goal for close to five minutes. All told, the Jazz closed the quarter on a 19-5 run to take a 54-44 lead at the half.

Shoutout…

….to Ricky Rubio. When he attacks the defense, the Jazz offense clicks. He brings the ball up, is quick around defenders, and makes great decisions to either pass or score. In the second quarter, Rubio led the charge by pushing the ball and then making plays like this:

3rd Q: A Bank Shot. By Gobert.

Um, Rudy banked in a jumper. Like, a real fifteen-foot jumper. And, like, it was on purpose. And he made it. He pump faked, dribbled once, calmly cleared it off glass, and then looked at the Orlando bench as hot stuff.

By the end of the third quarter, Gobert had a double-double with 19 points, on 9/10 shooting, with 11 rebounds and a team-best +17. He was the best player on the court.

Gobert has been amazing since his return to b-ball action. Want stats to prove it? In his last 19 games, Gobert is averaging 14.7 points, 10.8 rebounds, and 2.4 blocks. For the season, he is shooting 60% from the field, which would put him at fifth in the league for such a high percentage, and averages 2.4 blocks a game, which would tie him for first in the league. Key word: would; he doesn’t qualify. Those are All-NBA numbers, but by the end of the season will Gobert have missed too many games to be honored as such? His resume is as impressive, if not more-so, than Anthony Davis, Joel Embiid, and Karl-Anthony Towns, centers that will be in consideration for All-NBA honors, but Gobert has the blemish of 26 missed games.

Jazz fans know and love him as the Stifle Tower, a defensive force that has a work ethic as fearless as his attitude. He is simply the fuel that drives this Utah Jazz team. Had he been healthy all year, where would the Jazz be standing in regards to the playoff push? Had he been healthy all year, would he be recognized as an All-Star? Had he been healthy all year, would he be collecting hardware at the NBA Award Show in June?

4th Q: Stats Toward Victory

The Jazz maintained their high shooting percentage and finished the game at 49%. Orlando shoots 46% on the season, good for 13th in the NBA, but were cold in Utah with 34%.

Donovan Mitchell scored 11 points going into the fourth quarter. He got to the line in the fourth to help get him 19 for the night (and a +17!), but if he wants to average 20.0 ppg by the end of the season, he’ll need to make up ground as he sits at 19.9 ppg.

The Jazz average 21.4 assists a game, which is quite low and ranks 24th out of 30 teams in the NBA. On Monday night, they passed the ball around and garnered 23. The ball was moving more in the first half as Ingles had seven first half assists and Rubio had five.

Post All-Star break, the Jazz have had a turnover problem. On average, they commit 14.5 turnovers. With plenty of time til halftime, the Jazz were halfway to that mark with seven. For a while in that second quarter, the Jazz were reckless and careless – Joe Ingles especially – and coughed up silly TOs. Luckily, that died down as the game went on and they finished with 16 TOs that only yielded 11 points.

Random stat of the game: By halftime, the Jazz had yet to attempt a free throw, a first of the season.

Oh, and Quin was ejected with fifty seconds left in the game. The Jazz attempted more free throws than Orlando, but it still felt a few calls were going the wrong way. Quin thought so and tried to argue a few push offs throughout the game. As the game was about to expire, another potential push off occured but the refs didn’t call it. He wanted to talk to a ref, but he turned his back. He looked to another ref and he, too, turned his back. It was the first time in his career that Quin has been ejected.

What’s Next?

After winning 15 in the last 17, the Jazz will take their three-game win streak into Indiana for a date with the Pacers on Wednesday. Indiana is a good team, 4th in the East, with a 37-27 record. They are 7-3 in their last ten, led by first time All-Star Victor Oladipo. Can the Jazz stay perfect in March?

Author information

Steve Godfrey

Steve studied journalism and English, and now teaches high school in Northern Utah. He started his own website and writes about being a Tortured Jazz fan at: http://www.thetorturedfan.com/. He joined the Salt City Hoops team at the start of the 2017-18 season to connect with more Jazz fans and to continue to apply his passion for writing and for basketball.

Clint Johnson is a professional author, writing educator, and editor. He teaches writing at Salt Lake Community College. A frequent presenter at both writing and educational conferences, he writes about the Jazz as a break from his other writing work.

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The Sacramento Kings’s defense couldn’t stop Donovan Mitchell’s combination of physical strength and speed, as the Rookie of the Year candidate made scoring 27 look easy in the Utah’s Jazz’s road victory. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

Story of the Game

This was a contest the Utah Jazz had to win and, if they were honest and wouldn’t be fined for it, the Sacramento Kings would admit they wanted to lose. So Utah’s cruise to a 98 – 91 victory on the tail end of a back-to-back is no surprise.

This was an easy game for the Jazz both competitively and in terms of energy, which the players likely appreciate after winning a testy game with Minnesota yesterday in Salt Lake. Neither team mustered much energy for most of the night, though Utah’s superior talent and training was obvious. It never felt the Jazz were in a position to lose this game; moreover, it never felt the Kings might push things to a position where the Jazz had any realistic chance to lose.

It’s not that Sacramento played poorly exactly. Their young talent gave Kings fans something to cheer for, with De’Aaron Fox scoring 17 on some greased lightning plays, Bogdon Bogdonovic scoring 15 with his NBA-ready game, and even Skal Labissiere having perhaps his best NBA game with 12 points, 12 rebounds, three blocks, and more energy than anyone else in the building. In the few moments the Kings got the game’s tempo up, such as to close the second and third quarters, they went on mini runs of 16 to seven and later seven to zero.

Even so Sacramento was no match for Utah’s defense even on cruise control. The Kings shot 38 percent overall and only 30 percent from three, never managing to punish Utah for its own mediocre offensive night: 42 percent shooting from the field, 34 percent from three, and an ugly 19 of 29 (66 percent) from the free throw line.

The Jazz nursed a lead between about seven and 15 for most of the evening, and head coach Quin Snyder must have preferred for them to put the pedal down midway through this game to end the night early. But second gear was easily enough for the Jazz to cruise to a seven-point win, a margin that undersells how easy it was to get this victory.

Stars of the Game

Utah’s star duo played what may be their most complete combined game tonight.

Mitchell displayed all-around offensive excellence, requiring only 15 shots to get his game-high 27 points. He made three of eight threes and a stellar 10 of 10 from the free throw line. Moreover, he facilitated the team with awareness far beyond his years and contributed on the boards as well. He has now shot five or more three throws in six of the last nine games. Once he bumps that up to six or seven attempts a contest, or maybe even more – and he will – he’ll check every box for an elite NBA scorer.

Gobert was perhaps even better than Mitchell when considering his overall game, but the most impressive thing about that is how routine he made it seem. He stuffed the stat sheet and controlled much of the competition on the floor without doing anything that stood out as beyond his normal, consistent impact. That’s the sign of a franchise player.

Not surprisingly, Mitchell and Gobert led the team in both minutes (38 and 36 respectively) and plus-minus (plus-eight and plus-10).

Secondary Star: Derrick Favors (15 points, 8 rebounds, 1 assists)

Favors’s season has been as steady as could be hoped, so much so it’s easy to miss some of the nuances his game has gained with a return to health. He’s running the floor harder than any time in his career, which resulted in two easy finishes in the fast break tonight as he beat his man down the floor. He hit another three on two attempts this game, giving him eight makes on the season. He provides efficient offense, shooting 56 percent while requiring only nine shot attempts a game, while contributing solid defense both as a rim protecting center and a forward chasing out to the three point line. While Favors’s future in Utah is uncertain, it would be interesting to see what might happen if he were allowed to truly settle into the uniquely diverse role he fills on this roster.

Secret Star: Jonus Jerebko (8 points, 6 rebounds, 2 threes)

Jerebko’s cold streak finally ended as he canned two of five attempts from long range. His eight points may not seem like much, but it was nice that Jae Crowder (14 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block) finally got some scoring help on Utah’s bench. The pair provided the only scoring outside Utah’s starters.

Stats of the Game

13 – Utah’s advantage in second chance points, an area they’ve really distinguished themselves with both Gobert and Favors healthy.

12 – Shots missed by Ricky Rubio, more misses than any Jazz player except Mitchell even attempted.

97.6 – Estimated possessions in the ball game. The lethargy helped Utah’s defense keep the clamps on the Kings, but it didn’t make for the most riveting game.

1.55 – Points per shot on Gobert’s and Favors’s combined 20 field goal attempts (31 points total). They’re typically efficient and so when they get enough opportunities, it adds to the pair’s defense to make them a unique problem for any opponent.

Sundries

The Golden 1 Center was dead tonight. The atmosphere was such that it likely played a role in the lackluster energy displayed by both teams for much of the game. It’s been really hard to be a Kings fan for far too long.

Ricky Rubio was both the good old Rubio and the perplexing new Rubio this game. His stat line was strong: 10 points, eight rebounds, and team-highs in assists (six) and steals (four). The Jazz would happily take that every night. It’s the 16 shots, of which he only made four, that’s frustrating. It’s not just missing all three of his three point attempts but the two of six finishes at the rim. Tonight the free throw line didn’t even save his efficiency as he missed three of five there. A game like this illustrates Rubio’s potential to shoot his team out of wins. Yet somehow in the 12 games this season where Rubio has taken at least 14 shots, the Jazz have won 10! Is that a fluke? If not, is there anything there that’s sustainable, especially against quality opponents in the playoffs? I’m not sure anyone knows, including the Jazz brain trust.

Bogdonovic is a good player, kind of a Klay Thompson-lite. Fox is really fast. Labissiere has some tools and has matured some since entering the league as one of the least ready NBA players of recent memory. But there’s nothing on this Kings roster that suggests this team will escape building from the ground up for many years to come.

It’s hard to imagine how LeBron James can stay in Cleveland now that it’s so obvious that team is a professional dumpster fire for any player not perfectly designed to compliment the King. Isaiah Thomas has revitalized the Lakers in short order and Crowder has scored double figures in all eight of his games with the Jazz. James has long been celebrated for his ability to make his teammates better, which makes this season’s illustration of the exact opposite fascinating.

Alec Burks earned another DNP-Coach’s Decision tonight. It’s disappointing given that he’s finally healthy and he had such a strong pre-season and start to the regular season, but it’s looking increasingly likely that Burks’s career will move out of Salt Lake perhaps as soon as this summer. Raul Neto added little in his five minutes tonight as well. There’s a six-foot-six hole in the roster right now waiting for Dante Exum to fill it.

The Jazz have now won 14 of their last 16 games. With losses the Timberwolves and Thunder have each fallen to 28 games in the loss column, only two ahead of Utah. The floundering Spurs, finally crumbling under Kawhi Leonard’s perplexing injury and age, just lost as well, falling to 27 losses. Yet the Clippers and Nuggets continue to win at a pace that nearly matches the humming Jazz.

The fight not to be one of two teams left out of the post-season out West is going to be amazing. The Jazz have to keep the pressure on teams ahead of them by notching another home win against the Magic on Monday.

Author information

Clint Johnson

Clint Johnson is a professional author, writing educator, and editor. He teaches writing at Salt Lake Community College. A frequent presenter at both writing and educational conferences, he writes about the Jazz as a break from his other writing work.

I am a typical Jazz fan. I think Jordan pushed off, Derek Fisher lied, Bavetta cost us at least one game in the Finals, we should have drafted Tony Parker instead of Raul Lopez, and there will never be anything better than the Stockton to Malone days. I, along with Spencer Campbell @SCampbellSBN, started the first and longest-running Utah Jazz podcast on earth. I enjoy the in-of-doors and telling people a better way of doing whatever it is they're currently doing.

Following an NBA team should be fun, and Jimbo Rudding makes sure it is. Jimbo provides our regular dose of levity here at Salt City Hoops, answering reader questions with his signature blend of creativity, humor and unabashed fandom. You can submit questions to Jimbo at mailbag@saltcityhoops.com or by tweeting to @JimboRudding. Can I get an RT for that?

Q: When his majesty King James signs with the Jazz next year, how much will prices go up to cover his hourly wage? I can only stretch my nacho budget so far. Just wonder if it will be worth it.

@the6bees

I assume you mean game ticket prices, right? I guess you could be talking about jerseys… or maybe you’re talking about bottled water prices? To answer the question, yes, prices will definitely go up.

Your question got me thinking—we as a fan base, and as a state for that matter, have A TON to do before LeBron signs with the Jazz this summer. I’ve taken the liberty of listing a few of them here:

Figure out if we’ll have enough cap space to re-sign Dante Exum and Derrick Favors.

Identify and sign a reliable back-up center.

Give the arena a really thorough once-over and make sure there aren’t any extra Gordan Giricek jerseys or photos in any of the closets.

Change into some pants that DON’T have holes in the knees so that we can have pride in our appearance.

I kind of went on a tangent there. Sorry about that. I would definitely eat as many nachos as you can, because come July, nachos will be super expensive… and they’ll be not-chos.

Q: What Jazz player would make the best NASCAR driver?

@Cutch_22

Sorry Cutch, I’m not schooled on the ins and outs of NASCAR. However, I have been on a long car ride before and do understand how to turn left, so… maybe I AM an expert at NASCAR?

To answer your question, I’d have to say Zach Guthrie. From what I know, Zach is very intelligent and is looking forward to ninth grade next year. Ha ha, no, that’s just a dig on how young he looks. I did some research and Zach is actually in his early 60s. It’s pretty incredible how a human can look that good this late in life. Must be the Honey Bunches of Oats or something.

Q: Taking my son to his maturation program. Which Jazz coach past or present would give the best birds and the bees talk?

@BardenPembleton

When it comes to “the talk,” it’s really all about making your son comfortable. If it becomes an uncomfortable or extremely awkward talk, he’s less likely to come to you later in life for advice…actually, what do I know? I didn’t even kiss a girl until Hurricane Charlie… and that was for all the wrong reasons.

I like this question, though. Every young boy deserves to know exactly why hair is growing in strange places and why their body won’t stop sweating. Boys should all understand that it’s normal to be attracted to their teachers (especially the ones with gray hair). They needn’t worry if Jessica Braithwaite refuses to make out with you, even though you know all the words to the songs from West Side Story…… wow…. ok… this got a little personal……. my apologies.

Ty Corbin. Ty Corbin would give the best birds and bees talk.

Q: Has Gordon Hayward called Gail yet?

@Chief_Baconator

Sadly, no. He’s not good at that kind of thing.

Q: I’ve been hearing rumblings about Dante Exum playing tomorrow. Are they true? Or was it the Taco Bell I had for lunch?

@CollinS69

Well Collin, tomorrow is here and the rumblings were not legitimate. For that, I apologize. It must’ve just been Taco Bell again. It gets to the best of us. Absolutely no one is immune to the Taco Bell rumblings.

I WILL say this—keep trusting the rumblings, Collin. They’re usually never always wrong.

Q: Does it bother you that Rodney Hood suddenly knows how to use the social media?

@kelibark

Keli, YES! I thought the same exact thing. Rodney hardly ever tweeted or Instagramed while with the Jazz and then he gets traded to LeBron’s team and suddenly he’s Kimmy Cardashigan???

Maybe other teams have employees whose job it is to run players’ social media accounts? Maybe Rodney is just excited to be playing for a contender? Maybe Rod was taking a social media class?

Whatever the case may be, I think we all can agree that if the Cavaliers make it to the NBA Finals, Rodney Hood should start eating more cheese.

Q: Any tips on how I can get myself blocked by Derek Fisher?

@pdub0718

Derek who?

Q: What winter Olympic sport might current and former Jazz players excel at?

@mneumonist

Q: What are the favorite activities for the Jazz players when they play in the snow?

@k_r_baum

Good questions, guys!

Since your questions were so similar, I figured it would be easier to answer them together. I hope you don’t feel robbed or even refuse to ever read the mailbag again. If that’s the way you feel, I would be happy to find a day where I can come to your home and write a personal Jimbo’s Mailbag for you and your family.

Here are the favorite winter activities/Olympic events of each Jazz player (according to my research):

I actually own a Miles jersey, but that was because they were out of Millsap ones and I was tired of waiting for the new stock to come in.

I grew up watching Mark Eaton intimidate teams with his defense. I used to pray he wouldn’t pull a muscle in his back while blocking shots.

I also loved watching Rodney Hood develop into our own personal Prince of Threes.

This is a hard question to answer, but I’m gonna have to go with Rod J. Eaton.

Q: My 5 and 2 yr old keep writing on the walls with markers. I try and hide the markers, but they make them appear out thin air like magicians. This is causing a lot of hatred and ill intent. What kinda things do you suggest I do? Is cutting off one of their fingers going too far?

@devon_barber

Cutting off their fingers will NOT help. Believe me, I’m missing three of my own. Maybe try cutting off a hand and go from there?

Q: What do you know about Tony Bradley? Is he a big, tall stiff who came to the NBA in the wrong era, or is he the next Tim Duncan?

@UGottaLovItBaby

Great question! [Just so you know, I’m using all my strength to not go into an Ace Ventura rant about how he’s a “soccer-style kicker, graduated from Collier High…” bit… but, I also I just did, right? Whoops.]

I actually do know a lot about Tony Bradley. In fact, I’m pretty sure I know the most about him besides his family. I mean, I’ve never met the guy, but I have read articles and studied stat sheets and just observed his demeanor and let me tell you—I REALLY like what I see.

I’m not comfortable with saying he’s the next Tim Duncan, but I AM comfortable saying that he could be the next Tom Dincam. Tom was a pretty good basketball player from my high school. He wasn’t very athletic and was born without the ring fingers on both of his hands, but man could he hustle!

Here is a list of things I know about Tony Bradley that might be interesting to know:

He was already six feet tall when he started the third grade.

He loves video games, but was never able to conquer Super Mario 2.

He had two really good friends in junior high who for some reason got really into Smash Mouth.

His nickname in high school was Tee-Leaf.

At one time he owned 47 guinea pigs, but his mother made him get rid of most of them after he got his foot caught in one of the guinea pig cages.

He doesn’t like Thai food.

His uncle once had a bathroom emergency at a Kinko’s and is now permanently banned from using Fed Ex for all his shipping needs.

Growing up, he was not allowed to watch The Simpsons or collect Garbage Pail Kid cards.

He has seen the movie Stand and Deliver over 100 times and for a short period of time he convinced himself that he was fluent in Spanish.

He slightly flicks the basketball with his left thumb when he shoots.

He had 17 turnovers during one of his high school basketball games and he told his coach it was because he couldn’t stop thinking about how no matter how many people got eaten, the shark in Jaws never seemed to get full.

He plays the harmonica, but not with his mouth.

Q: Which of the following movie characters would fit best as the Jazz’szes 15th man? Robin Williams’ character in Jumanji, Kip Dynamite, Air Bud, Kazaam.

@benwalker14

Kip, for sure.

Thanks for submitting questions, you guys. Remember to tell people in line in front of you at Red Box about Jimbo’s Mailbag. Do it while gently caressing their ear lobe. Make it weird.

Author information

Jimbo Rudding

I am a typical Jazz fan. I think Jordan pushed off, Derek Fisher lied, Bavetta cost us at least one game in the Finals, we should have drafted Tony Parker instead of Raul Lopez, and there will never be anything better than the Stockton to Malone days. I, along with Spencer Campbell @SCampbellSBN, started the first and longest-running Utah Jazz podcast on earth. I enjoy the in-of-doors and telling people a better way of doing whatever it is they're currently doing.